


Baby's First Pumpkin

by allthebeautifulthings9828



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Domestic Castiel/Dean Winchester, Fallen Castiel, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Fluff, Halloween, Human Castiel, M/M, Married Castiel/Dean Winchester, POV Dean Winchester, Parent-Child Relationship, Parenthood, Parents Castiel & Dean Winchester, Pumpkins, daddy!castiel, daddy!dean, domestic!Destiel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-09
Updated: 2013-10-03
Packaged: 2017-12-26 01:30:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/959990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allthebeautifulthings9828/pseuds/allthebeautifulthings9828
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Seven years after the angels were cast out of Heaven, the Winchester brothers finally have their own little families. Sam has two children and a third on the way. It took Dean and Castiel a while but they finally adopted their own baby girl, Mary Joanna. And since it's her first Halloween, Dean is bound and determined to do it right even though she's only four-months-old. The brothers take their kids to the pumpkin patch.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"She’s going to tumble out of the wagon, Dean," cautioned an overly concerned Castiel. "A four-month-old baby has no sense of balance."

"Nah, we got this. She’s a Winchester," Dean replied. "Every kid should experience riding around in a little red wagon. It’s American like apple pie."

Chuckling, the former angel held onto the wagon handle and waited. It was Mary Joanna’s first Halloween season, and Dean thought they should do it right, despite Castiel’s protests that a four-month-old wouldn’t remember any of it. But Dean insisted, demanded, and cajoled until they ended up at Sam’s favorite farmer’s market transformed into a pumpkin patch. As Castiel watched Dean roll up his coat in the bed of the wagon, making a little recliner for the baby, he realized the first Halloween as a father was more for Dean than their adopted child.

"Okay, there. Little squirt’s not going anywhere now. Look, she can see everything," announced Dean as he stood upright and examined the baby nested in his coat. "Did we lose Sammy?"

Castiel pointed to the far corner of the pumpkin patch. A shack with market employees serving hot chocolate, assorted pumpkin flavored hot drinks, and sweet treats had attracted Sam’s two children. The younger Winchester brother’s hulking stature towered over his son and daughter, who, much to his dismay, learned Dean’s endless desire for sugar by watching him.

"I bet they have pie," Dean said in a not-so-subtle hint.

"Your daddy’s a glutton," said Castiel to the baby as he pulled the wagon along behind him, Dean bringing up the rear.

As the new little family approached the refreshments shack, Sam’s boy ran to Dean and instantly climbed him like a jungle gym. It was their way. Entirely too many family holidays witnessed some broken piece of furniture or shattered glass the minute Bobby got old enough to rough house with his uncle. Castiel had even worried that Dean would be disappointed with their adoption resulting in a baby girl rather than a boy, but as soon as the hunter held her for the first time, he never looked back.

"Dad won’t let me have a cookie," said Bobby from his spider monkey perch on Dean’s back.

"You're gonna be six next month. We're not wrecking your teeth already," Sam replied. "And don't run to Dean when I say no to junk. I'm your father."

"Mom'd lemme have it," Bobby muttered.

"Mom's not here, is she? Sorry, kid. You've got Dad today," he replied. Sarah was pregnant again, just barely, and she couldn't move off the couch without throwing up. Pregnancy was hard on her every time.

A stuttering, stifled chuckle covered by Castiel's free hand. They all knew it - Bobby inherited everything about being a Winchester that spawned Dean's personality. Sam bent, hooking hands under Ellie's arms, and lifting his three-year-old girl on his hip. Though still quite little, Ellie watched everyone around her like studying things for later. She tucked away nuggets of knowledge to use as she grew up, Castiel often suggested. That little girl was special.

"Okay, fine," Sam relented. "How 'bout a chocolate covered apple? At least you'll get some fruit in you."

Bobby wriggled down from Dean like swinging off the monkey bars with a contented, somewhat victorious smile. Usually Sam gave in like that, although he pretended it was a big compromise, but he never could bring himself to be a hard father. Neither could Dean. They never spoke of it but Dean suspected the specter of their father bringing them up like mini-soldiers rather than little boys made them, in turn, treat their own children with a softer hand. Maybe too soft at times. Dean never could let Mary Joanna cry in her crib very long no matter how much Castiel explained that babies needed to cry it out sometimes.

While Sam straightened out the snacks situation with his own kids, Dean and Castiel sneaked away with their little red wagon. The former angel pulled the wagon through the pumpkin patch while Dean kept an eye on their little cargo.

Mary Joanna was so good that Dean wondered if she fell asleep, but as he leaned over and peered at her little face in a pale pink and white stripped jacket hood, she simply took in everything around her. Wide blue eyes watched pumpkins pass her wagon as if completely mystified and intrigued by the weird orange lumps on the ground. Dean immediately decided that his baby was a genius. How could she not be with a father like him and a father like Castiel?

"Cas, keep an eye out for a good tall one and a good fat one."

The former angel nodded. "You know, Dean, people have been carving faces into gourds for centuries. This is a very old tradition. It began with an Irish myth about a man named Jack who repeatedly tricked the devil, and when Jack died, neither Heaven or Hell would claim his soul. The devil gave him a lit piece of coal and he wandered the earth with it inside a carved turnip. So the Irish and Scottish carved frightening faces into turnips and potatoes to scare away Jack and other evil spirits." Castiel often drifted into old stories like that and Dean listened until something distracted him. "It's not entirely true, of course. Lucifer's much too intelligent to be tricked by a human."

"Is any of it true?" asked Dean.

"Some," Castiel replied. "There's always a grain of truth in every myth."

True, Dean did find the story mildly interesting but he felt priorities shift a long time ago, around the time Ellie Winchester was born. Sarah endured a very difficult labor and nearly bled to death even with highly skilled doctors. It spooked Sam into being home more, hunting less, and then Castiel began wondering out loud when Dean might scale back too. He wanted a baby of his own. Dean didn't know it at the time but he wanted a baby too. So the brothers set up shop like Bobby had in their time, helping younger hunters with lore and solving cases. Both Sarah and Castiel breathed loud sighs of relief.

Lost in thought, Dean's boot clipped an errant pumpkin in the footpath and stumbled over it. Castiel stopped, throwing a glance over his shoulder.

"What are you doing?" Castiel asked.

Laughing at himself, Dean scooped up the offending pumpkin. "Falling over shit like an idiot."

"Dean! Language."

"She's not old enough to understand yet. Relax, big daddy." He held up the pumpkin as if presenting a royal heir. "Check it out. The perfect carving sacrifice."

"It's rather large, isn't it?" Castiel ventured with some skepticism.

Dean crouched by the wagon and put the pumpkin down by Mary Joanna's feet. "Sure, but kids are kids for like a minute before they're too cool to care about this stuff. Might as well do it big."

In fact, he already had plans for the house at Christmas bordering on Clark W. Griswold standards.

The transparent pink binky popped out of Mary Joanna's mouth and tumbled down her tummy as she appraised her new fat, orange wagon-mate. She gurgled and cooed, her little hands closing and opening with apparent interest. Though she was not biologically their child, sometimes Dean looked at her in awe, seeing little glimpses of both himself and Castiel in her as if she had been plucked by the universe specifically for them. Dean put the binky back in her mouth and picked her up like a little football tucked in his arm, having decided not to risk letting the pumpkin roll on top of her.

As they walked along in search of another pumpkin, he unconsciously helped Sam keep an eye on his rambunctious kids as well. Bobby ran through the pumpkin patch on his sugar high and Ellie skipped along Sam's side, holding his hand.

"How did we get here, Cas?" he asked in a faraway tone.

The former angel's response took on a literal tone. "We took 81 South to 70 East, Dean."

Sometimes he was still just like the awkwardly clueless angel he knew years before and it make Dean chuckle down at the baby clutched against his chest. He wondered if she would develop that literal sense of unintentional humor too.

"Your papa's never gonna change, is he?" whispered Dean. He swayed with each step in a natural rocking rhythm as if his meaty arms were designed for babies all along.

"Dean, look," beckoned Castiel a few yards into a crowded patch. "What about this one? It has character. It's odd. I like it."

He stood there presenting an oblong pumpkin with the top listing slightly to one side. Truthfully, it looked like a mutant squash rather than a good carving pumpkin but it made Castiel quite proud of himself. His full mouth spread into a smile. Dean could see his mind turning already, planning and designing a face for his pumpkin. It took a while, sometimes, for Castiel to learn how to have fun, but it came faster after becoming a father.

And there, a man who was once a multidimensional wavelength of celestial intent stood in the middle of a pumpkin patch with his husband and baby, like any other family. None of the kids running around or the parents chasing them even guessed that he was once an angel of the Lord.

"Perfect," Dean said. "Dump it in the wagon."


	2. Chapter 2

Baby drool dribbled from Mary Joanna's little mouth as she giggled. Giggling always got her pudgy legs kicking excitedly in the baby bouncer seat that Dean put on the dining table with him. It was a pink and brown zebra print thing just like the rest of her bedding upstairs in the nursery. Castiel had gone to every baby store in northeast Kansas before he decided on the theme.

"Just like Daddy, huh? Excited by knives?" He stabbed the top of his pumpkin with a steak knife and sliced around the stem, creating a lid. "We gotta scoop out the pumpkin guts before we can carve a face. But you're a little young for knives. I'll do this part."

Mary Joanna cooed and babbled in response. He always talked to her like she understood even though she was only just barely four-months-old, having read that baby talk would stunt her intellectual development. His daughter wasn't going to be a high school dropout like him. She was going places in life like Sam. A faint smile plumped his cheeks, thinking of Mary Joanna going to college, as he carefully carved the pumpkin for her first Halloween.

Scooping out the guts with his bare hands, Dean dumped most of them in the garbage can at his side in one shot. He reached into the hollow interior and grabbed a large seed. Mary Joanna's large blue eyes tracked the strange thing as he showed it to her.

"This is a pumpkin seed. Plant these in the ground and you get baby pumpkins. Papa knows more about planting though," he explained, hearing Castiel's footsteps on the floor above him. Delicate fingers grabbed his thumb and the seed, which she babbled to as if it might answer her back. Smirking, Dean framed up the scene on his iPhone camera and snapped a picture. "Pumpkins go in pies too. Wait 'til you're off the bottles 'cause pies are gonna rock your world. That'll be our thing. Your papa thinks you're about ready to start mushy jar food any day now. Pies are a little ways off yet. Tough break, kid."

Dean threw out the seed before Mary Joanna stuffed it in her mouth. He resumed work on the pumpkin, plotting out a ghostly face more like Casper the cartoon than something scary. The one thing Dean decided before Mary Joanna was born was to protect her from the hunter lifestyle until she was old enough to decide on her own. That inadvertently meant nothing scary allowed in his house. One of the greatest hunters in the world shifted from exorcisms, ganking monsters, and angels to Casper the Friendly Ghost, diaper bags, and Disney movies. Some of those songs were pretty damn catchy. And so, the first Halloween pumpkin he carved for his baby girl was cute and cartoony. There was no need for her to know ghosts were real until she grew old enough to choose her own path.

The eyes, nose, and mouth all appeared rounded and gentle. A little bit of humor turned up his pumpkin's toothy grin. It looked pretty damn good if he said so himself. He smiled down at the awesome orange thing and imagined it sitting out on the porch lit by a candle. Spinning it around in his hands, he presented it to Mary Joanna.

"What do you think, little lady?" he asked the baby.

The little girl's tiny forehead lifted, wrinkling in contemplation, and she squeaked at Dean.

"Awesome, right? Yeah, I'm pretty good with a knife."

Putting down the pumpkin again, an impulse occurred to him. Dean smiled mischievously as he shot up from the dining chair and undid Mary Joanna's bouncy seat straps. A baby was only tiny enough for this kind of photo once, he told himself, justifying the humor. He plucked his little girl into his arms and cleared away the clutter around the pumpkin. She fit in the hole at the top perfectly with her arms folded over the top and her fat little legs poking out from the face's mouth.

Dean chuckled.

Mary Joanna gave a gummy smile and giggled.

It was too easy. He had no idea how or why he got such a happy baby given years and decades of his surly nature, but even she found sitting in a jack-o-lantern as funny as he did.

"I know, right?" he said to Mary Joanna through a smile. "You're a Winchester. Of course you look awesome when you're funny."

With his iPhone again, Dean sized up the photograph of his baby gurgling and cooing in the pumpkin. He snapped a few just to get the right one of her looking at him, and then he switched over to video. The baby blinked at the flashing red light.

"Say hi, Mary Joanna," he said. "You're on Candid Camera, baby. Hi, Uncle Sam. Hi, Auntie Sarah. Tell them about how you and Daddy thought it was funny to sit in your first pumpkin. Just wait 'til you get buried to the waist in a bowl of Halloween candy, right?" He made faces at the baby - cross-eyed, tongue sticking out - and she giggled again.

"Dean, why did you put my baby inside of a pumpkin?"

He turned his camera to the doorway and Castiel's tall stature focused in the lens. Smirking, Dean said, " Hi, Papa. Because it's funny." And then he turned the camera on himself. "Happy Halloween," he said with a wave before he cut the little movie.

Castiel did chuckle in spite of his best effort to appear perturbed that Dean put their baby in a pumpkin. He hooked his hands under Mary Joanna's arms and popped her out of it. Orange pumpkin goo stuck to her clothes and the butt of her diaper under her baby dress. Castiel turned her around in his arms, draping her over his shoulder, and her tiny body relaxed immediately in that position. He always had that effect on her. Mary Joanna sighed deeply and rested her head on his shoulder as he turned the pumpkin for a look at Dean's handiwork.

"Well done, Dean." He smiled across the table, lines deepening around his blue eyes. "You made the mess. Bath time is your turn tonight. I'll feed her afterward."

"You gonna do yours?" Dean asked.

"Tomorrow," Castiel replied. "The baby needs to go to bed. We have to keep her on a schedule. All the books say so. Bath, bottle, bed."

"I'll be up in a minute," said Dean, nodding.

As Castiel rounded the dining table to the hall, lightly rubbing Mary Joanna's back, he kissed Dean's lips in passing. Just when Dean let little doubts creep in about whether Castiel still needed him now that he had a baby, the man who was once an angel merely kissed him or stroked his cheek, and Dean remembered. They needed each other. They were in this life together and Mary Joanna needed both of her daddies, her uncle, her aunt, and her cousins.

Soft humming followed Castiel upstairs. No earthly song, of course. The rare tangible piece of his angelic existence was the music - the angelic choir - that he hummed to his baby. One day she might understand that she was half-Enochian with him as a father.

Dean quickly cleaned up the dining room, hating to leave a mess in any part of his house. He grabbed the pumpkin under his arm, a candle from the kitchen drawer, and carried it outside to the porch, where he put it on display. The candle lit and dropped inside of the pumpkin, he moved to the walkway for a look at the glowing face. It was just a carved pumpkin, of course, but it was his baby's first Halloween. And that was pretty damn special.


	3. Chapter 3

"I cannot believe you're drawing facial hair on our baby," muttered Castiel as he leaned over and checked Dean's skills as a makeup artist.

"It's not _facial hair_. It's _werewolf fur._ " Dean stepped back and examined his handiwork with a proud smile. Having a sister-in-law with eyeliner pencils came in handy once in a while.

Castiel smirked at the baby, who looked at her fathers like they were insane. "Isn't it customary for little girls to be princesses and fairies?"

"When Mary Joanna can speak for herself, I'll buy her any costume she wants. Until then, she's gonna be tough and intimidating." His lips pouted and his voice raised in exaggerated baby talk. "Tell Papa - I'm a strong, independent woman, and I don't need no Prince Charming. Just gimme a sawed-off shotgun with silver bullets like Daddy."

"Oh, for crying out loud," Castiel grumbled into the kitchen.

"Yo, we're here!" shouted Sam as he threw open the front door and let his kids tear into the living room. "Some kids are already out and it's barely dark. When did people get so skittish about Halloween?"

"Since razor blades in candy and kidnapped kids. Oh man, I gotta sit down before I barf again," Sarah groaned as she sank into the sofa.

Dressed like a zombie complete with decaying flesh makeup, Bobby lumbered toward Dean in full character. He pretended to drag one of his legs behind him and threw an arm with each step. As he approached Dean putting a furry onesie on his baby, he grunted.

"Great costume, buddy!" he said with a whistle.

Curiously, Sam leaned over Mary Joanna in her Halloween costume. "Really, Dean? A werewolf?" He chuckled and squiggled his fingers over her tummy, making her giggle back.

"She looks awesome," replied Dean. "Watch the baby. I gotta get my costume on. Cas! Let's go!"

Dean hadn't worn a costume for Halloween since he was a child and even then, trick-or-treating very rarely happened for the Winchester boys. Having children of their own now allowed them to live out the experiences of youth they were denied by growing up hunters. Honestly, he was just as excited about Halloween that year as little Bobby in the zombie costume or little Ellie in her Disney Belle costume.

Upstairs, Castiel met him in their bedroom just as Dean buttoned up his chest armor for his gladiator costume. The former angel slipped his arms around Dean's waist from behind and nuzzled his neck. Through the reflection in the mirror, Dean saw him smile softly.

"You like the gladiator getup? Yeah, I look pretty badass," he said.

"No, Dean. I mean, I do, but I was just thinking of how much I love observing your interaction with Mary Joanna," Castiel murmured so close to his ear that Dean felt warm breath on his ear. "Her face seems brighter when you play with her. It's as if she sees the brightness of your soul the way I once did."

Despite the years with the former angel, living in the open together, his praise was still difficult for Dean to accept. He smiled and lightly scoffed, but he never could make himself believe the loving things Castiel said half the time.

"Better get your costume on," he replied, squeezing the arm around his waist.

And with Sam dressed as Frankenstein, a miserably pregnant Sarah dressed as the Bride of Frankenstein, and Castiel as a 1920s gangster with a toy Tommy gun, the extended family set off into the neighborhood. Luckily, they lived in a neighborhood with a sturdy reputation that allowed kids to run around trick-or-treating on Halloween like the old days, not scheduled in the nearest weekend during daylight hours. That certainly wasn't the Halloween that Sam and Dean wanted their kids to know. Childhood was so fleeting. They needed to enjoy it without fear.

"Okay," Sarah called out to the kids, "what do we say when they answer the door?"

"Trick-or-treat!" shouted Ellie.

"Smell my feet..." Bobby added.

"Where'd you learn that?" Sam interrogated as he rang the bell.

Bobby cast a sheepish grin back at Dean, the gladiator holding the werewolf cub, who gave an equally sheepish grin back to his brother. Chuckling in his soft way, Castiel got Sarah giggling as well.

A suburban woman, so painfully suburban with a blonde bob and a tasteful pastel sweater, answered the door. She smiled at the family and held out a bowl of individually wrapped chocolate bars. They scored on the first house, Dean thought hungrily. It would be a few years before his little werewolf cub could enjoy candy anyway.

"Trick-or-treat!" hollered Bobby and Ellie together.

"Wow, you all look great! Ohh, what a scary zombie, and a pretty little Belle," the housewife said in a syrupy voice as she dropped candy in their buckets. "Aww, just look at the baby werewolf. How adorable! And are you Mom and Dad?"

"These two are ours," Sam said kindly. "And these two are the baby's parents."

"Oh," she replied. Her head tilted just enough to let them know her mind struggled with the concept of two fathers. But, she smiled just as kindly. "You have a lovely little baby."

"Thank you," Castiel replied before Dean could respond as they all seemed to know he wanted to do.

And as they trekked over to the next house with a porch light on, Dean glanced at Castiel and he glanced back. They mostly kept to themselves, being hunters, but that also meant forgetting not everybody would accept them as a couple. It angered Dean, though he buried it for the sake of their fun family night. People had no idea what he and Castiel endured from the minute the angel yanked the Righteous Man out of Hell by the scruff of his neck. They _deserved_ to have a family together. They paid their dues and fought for years to have that freedom. A confused, sheltered housewife wasn't going to ruin it.

A younger woman answered the next door and shouted, "Hi!" as if welcoming them to a party. "Oh my God, I've seen you guys around the neighborhood but I never get to say what's up! What cute kids!" She ruffled Bobby's hair. "Rockin' zombie costume, dude."

"Thanks!" Even Bobby seemed to like this one better. "You got candy?"

"Bobby, don't be rude," corrected Sarah.

"Yeah, you better be careful or the zombie hunters will get you," teased the lady as she pulled out a candy bowl from a table by her door.

"Nah." Leaning in, Bobby delivered a secret. "My dad and my uncles hunt monsters all the time. They won't get me. I'm gonna hunt too!"

A burst of slightly anxious laughter erupted from Sam as he grabbed his boy by the shoulders. "Geez. Kids, you know?" he said, passing it off as just a story.

Dean pretended to cough into his fist but he really wanted to laugh.

"Well, I certainly feel a lot safer with monster hunters in the neighborhood," she replied, playing along, and dropping candy in each of the buckets.

As soon as they said goodbye and made some distance down the sidewalk, though, Sam took the opportunity to remind his son about the family secret. "Bobby, you can't tell people what we do," he said. "Most people will just think you're telling stories, but one day, you'll tell the wrong person without realizing it and they'll try to hurt you. We gotta keep it top secret, okay?"

"Yeah," agreed Bobby without injury. "I'm gonna be a hunter like you, Dad. I'm gonna keep all the pretty girls safe."

"Oh man, you sound like Dean," groaned the younger brother.

Sarah's laughter rang out across the cul de sac. "I'm not even sure he's my son. He takes after all the Winchester men. At least Cas and I have our girls to keep us company."

"I'm afraid Mary Joanna will develop a taste for hunting too," said Castiel.

"Nobody stays away from the family business long," Dean commented with a mixture of pride and dread.

During the night of Mary Joanna Winchester's first Halloween, they made quite a trick-or-treating haul. Dean and Sam probably enjoyed the expedition around the neighborhood as much as the kids did, although the little werewolf cub fell asleep in her daddy's arms. He didn't mind. She would only be little for so long before crawling and walking took her down a road of independence. They traded off for the return walk and Castiel carried the sleeping baby in one arm with the toy Tommy gun gripped loosely at his side.

And that night, after Sam and Sarah took their kids home to bed, Dean watched from the doorway as Castiel softly sang one of his Enochian songs to the baby. He rocked back and forth, gentle and contemplative, as he gazed out of the window near her crib. Mary Joanna finished her bottle like a champ - she always did - and Castiel expertly patted her back until she burped.

"Think she'll sleep through the night tonight?" Dean asked quietly.

The former angel nodded. He carefully deposited the four-month-old bundle into the crib.

"Good," murmured Dean as he approached. This time he was the one who slipped his arms around Castiel's waist from behind. Inhaling that natural scent, so familiar over the years, his lips dropped kisses around the back of his neck. "Wanna play find the gladiator's sword?"

That kind of talk turned Castiel somewhat bashful and he knew it. Both of them laughed low in their chests.

"How'd you like Halloween?"

Castiel leaned back into him a bit more. "It's enjoyable to see these new experiences through a child's eyes."

"Yeah," Dean replied with a nuzzling sort of nod against his neck. "I guess it's new for all of us."


End file.
